You may eventually need some Whitworth spanners (wrenches). Metric and SAE wrenches don't fit some Whitworth nuts. Or do you have the wrenches already?

What did you have to do to fix up the Rudge?

Being a truck mechanic, I have a well stocked tool box though I don't have any whitworth. As a last resort, I use Snap On adjustable wrenches when the prospect of buggering a hex looks imminent. Nothing can foul the air of my shop with blue language faster than tools that perform poorly. There may be a whitworth purchase in the future. The Rudge required no tools that I don't already own but a properly fitting lock ring spanner and a better quality 16mm cone wrench would have made the job easier.

The Rudge had dead paint which required a careful rub out with Scratch X. I used Wolfgang paint color enhancer followed by two applications of Wolfgang paint sealant to get the color to pop. All of the old battle scars were left intact save straightening a fender stay. I used Fiebings horse saddle conditioner on the Brooks. The front hub was missing a bearing so I bought a bag of 100 grade 25 bearings from a local bearing dealer. All the small parts were hydro-sonically cleaned and then hand polished. I wiped the cable housings with a rag sprayed with carburetor cleaner and then rubbed paint sealer on them. All bearings were greased with Phil Woods finest. I filled the AS hub with Tri-Flow on my truing stand and spun & drained it until it ticked over nicely and the the fluid ran out clean. The chrome was lightly rusty so I hand polished it with chrome cleaner applied with aluminum foil.

+1 on the Whitworth wrenches. Working on the old Raleighs got a lot easier when I finally broke down and bought a set. A mix of metric and SAE had been mostly adequate but I was a lot happier with wrenches that fit correctly.

My Rudge doesn't have the hand chainring either. If I ever have the good fortune to locate one in good condition and priced fairly, it will be installed promptly. The hand is a defining feature of the Rudge-Whitworth after all.

Raleigh bought Rudge to avoid living up to their exclusive territory obligations. If a shop in a town already sold Raleigh and another shop wanted to sell them, the second shop was provided with the Rudge brand. This also goes to explain the relative scarcity of Rudge-Whitworth bicycles.

My Rudge doesn't have the hand chainring either. If I ever have the good fortune to locate one in good condition and priced fairly, it will be installed promptly. The hand is a defining feature of the Rudge-Whitworth after all.

There's one on e-Bay UK right now, current bid is only 1.2 Pounds; about $2.50 or so. However, shipping is 16.99 Pounds; $26 more or less. Here's a link:

Tom, I didn't know that because I'm any expert, but I read that they were an "early acquisition".
Rudge is usually mentioned along with Hercules, that Raleigh, TI really, absorbed in 1960, which was the last of the other big names.
Rudge was earlier bought by EMI the record company, of all things, and sold when they realized that bicycle making didn't fit them well.
Rudge was always a premier brand, and Raleigh kept them that way until there was only room for one at the top.
What an arcane story the simple 3-speed bike turns out to be.

Tom, I didn't know that because I'm any expert, but I read that they were an "early acquisition".
Rudge is usually mentioned along with Hercules, that Raleigh, TI really, absorbed in 1960, which was the last of the other big names.
Rudge was earlier bought by EMI the record company, of all things, and sold when they realized that bicycle making didn't fit them well.
Rudge was always a premier brand, and Raleigh kept them that way until there was only room for one at the top.
What an arcane story the simple 3-speed bike turns out to be.

I kind of understood it to have been the other way around. TI bought Raleigh, and since Raleigh's Nottingham works were more capable than the Birmingham and other factories of the BCC empire, production was moved to Nottingham.

This is kind of ironic, because (again as I understand it) the pre-merger Hercules used 24TPI for headsets and bb's, but afterward used Raleigh 26TPI parts. The 24TPI standard survives even today.

Of course, I might have all that twisted all the way around two or three times.

You've got it right Howard, my bad sentence structure shows. TI owned Raleigh, and was doing all the consolidation.
What is hard for us to understand is how Britain had so many threads, and a standard was so late coming. There are some amazing stories of how things had to be done when the war departments were buying out components from diverse shops.

You've got it right Howard, my bad sentence structure shows. TI owned Raleigh, and was doing all the consolidation.
What is hard for us to understand is how Britain had so many threads, and a standard was so late coming. There are some amazing stories of how things had to be done when the war departments were buying out components from diverse shops.

As we sometimes say at work, "the nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them."

I'll bet the stories are indeed amazing.

I once added up how much it cost per mile to operate various bicycles I've had. The (Raleigh Sports - like) Hercules came in at around 4 or 5 cents per mile (tires, tubes, etc. plus fully accounting for the purchase price). Shoes typically cost more than that. Seriously, at that time, it cost me more to walk three miles than to ride the Sports. Bet it still does.

Seriously, at that time, it cost me more to walk three miles than to ride the Sports. Bet it still does.

It isn't hard to believe. As engineers say "if it looks right, it is right". I have always heard that the bicycle is one of the most efficient machines ever invented. I ride a single speed freewheel bike with rim brakes. It goes so easily, I am fooling myself to claim that I ride for exercise.

Everyone--bad news. Many of you have bought cotters, cotter presses, or 3-speed parts from Mark Stonich, aka Bikesmith of Bikesmith Designs. Mark was recently in a serious collision--he was hit from behind by an elderly driver--and has multiple fractures and a concussion. He is currently in the hospital recuperating, but seems more concerned by damage to his 1972 Holdsworth Mistral.

Everyone--bad news. Many of you have bought cotters, cotter presses, or 3-speed parts from Mark Stonich, aka Bikesmith of Bikesmith Designs. Mark was recently in a serious collision--he was hit from behind by an elderly driver--and has multiple fractures and a concussion. He is currently in the hospital recuperating, but seems more concerned by damage to his 1972 Holdsworth Mistral.

Sounds like he is a real cyclist, worrying about his bike more than himself.

Mark is a huge asset to the vintage bike community in MSP as well as many other places. I have purchased a lot of odd Sturmey-Archer parts from him. He also has been involved in HPV events in MN. He built a recumbent using a Raleigh Sports frame a while back. He is quite the innovator.

Aaron

Last edited by wahoonc; 10-01-13 at 09:22 AM.

Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(